Like most pronouns, the relative pronouns who, which, and that have antecedents—nouns or pronouns to which they refer. Usually the antecedent to a relative pronoun appears in the main clause of the sentence. For clarity, the relative pronoun should immediately follow its antecedent:

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, a holiday that popular belief claims is named after a third-century priest who was executed for performing illegal marriage ceremonies.

Subject-Verb Agreement

Relative pronouns that are the subjects of subordinate clauses take verbs that agree with their antecedents:

Some argue that Valentine’s Day is a holiday that was invented—or at least heavily marketed—by Hallmark.

Questions arise with sentences that include the phrases one of the and only one of the. Chicago prescribes treating one of the constructions as plural and only one of the constructions as singular:

Due to these marketing efforts, Valentine’s Day is one of the few holidays that are celebrated throughout the world.

It is the only one of the myriad holidays that is dedicated to romantic love.

Don’t try applying this guideline on the SAT, though where one is always just that: one—i.e., singular.

Omitted Antecedents

If there isn’t an antecedent, however, what can be used to mean that which:

Compound relative pronouns are formed by adding the suffice -ever­ to who, whom, what, or which. Whoever, whomever, whatever, and whichever don’t point back to a noun or pronoun but refer generally to any or all people or things:

Whomever the Vikings face in the rest of the playoffs will be formidable opponents.

Whatever happens next weekend, the Vikings had a fun and exciting season.

Do you have a question about pronouns? Let me know, and I’ll include it in a future installment of Mots Justes’ ongoing series.

It is SAT season, and one of the rules I emphasize with my students as they prepare for the test is that personal pronouns always need to have a clear antecedent. (Two exceptions, even on the SAT, are I and you, whose antecedents—the person speaking or writing and the person being spoken or written to—are implied.) However, in everyday language, it is often used as an indefinite pronoun.

The pronoun it can be used to refer to a phrase, clause, sentence, or idea that’s implied but not explicitly stated:

In yesterday’s Vikings game against the 49ers, Brett Favre threw a game-winning touchdown with just two seconds left on the clock. You have to see it to believe it.

In this example, you can infer that it refers to the play: You have to see the play to believe it.

It can be the subject of a sentence without having an antecedent. Usually the verb in such a sentence is a form of to be:

It was amazing.

It can also open a sentence and introduce a phrase or clause that comes after the verb:

It is strange to see Favre wearing purple after he played for so many years in Packers green.

And it can introduce a subject or object before it appears in a sentence:

I find it hard to get used to this new world order.

Finally, it can serve as a subject in a sentence discussing time or the weather:

It is autumn; it has finally cooled down.

However, although I’ve been known to favor starting sentences with It’s …—check out the first sentence of this post, for example—I wouldn’t recommend it in academic writing because your meaning can become muddled:

Everywhere I go, even at the Goodwill donation center, people want to talk about Favre. It is exciting.

What is exciting? Favre? Or that everyone wants to talk about him?

Friends of my family have a nephew who plays for the Packers. It is a good opportunity.

What is a good opportunity? Ostensibly, it’s the nephew’s position on the team, but the antecedent isn’t clear.

Do you have a question about pronouns? Let me know, and I’ll include it in a future installment of Mots Justes’ ongoing series.

There are some personal pronouns that don’t need antecedents for their referent nouns to remain clear. I, for example, always refers to the speaker or writer, and you refers to the person being spoken or written to. Likewise, sometimes we, you, and they don’t need antecedents because they are being used indefinitely to refer to “one” or “people in general.”

The editorial we is used by an individual who is speaking for a group—the staff of a magazine, for example, or an entire company:

On this website we cover writing- and editing-related topics like grammar and punctuation, structure and style, and the creative life.

A writer might also use we to personalize his or her writing or make the reader feel included:

By applying the guidelines discussed here, we can develop strategies for finding the right words.

You can be used in the same way that one refers to any reader or all readers. (Just don’t mix-and-match you and one in the same sentence.)

If you have a question about writing or editing, you can find the answer here. (And if you can’t, let us know and we’ll find it for you!)

Finally, they can be used indefinitely when the antecedent is unidentified or unimportant.

They say there are no rules in writing.

(I caution against this usage in academic writing, though—your grader will want to know who says that and look for a citation!)

Do you have a question about pronouns? Let me know, and I’ll include it in a future installment of Mots Justes’ ongoing series.